Newsletter: Essential California: UC chancellor calls for new policies on harassment

Good morning. It is Tuesday, April 19. Here’s what’s happening in the Golden State:

TOP STORIES

Harassment policy

The University of California system needs to overhaul its sexual harassment policies so investigations are effective and cases are consistently handled, according to UC President Janet Napolitano “While UC has made progress over the past year and a half on faculty sexual harassment cases, several cases that have recently come to light make clear that we have much more work to do,” she wrote in a letter released Monday. In recent months, administrators at UCLA and UC Berkeley have been criticized for their handling of complaints. Los Angeles Times

Past fades away

What will become of the cottages in Point Reyes National Seashore? Laird’s Landing was home to Clayton Lewis, a “fisherman, artist, resident bohemian,” for more than 30 years. “If the history of California once lay in its attraction for visionaries and outliers, didn’t his home deserve to be preserved other than on a website or through interpretive signs?” Los Angeles Times

Sad milestone

Each year at the crack of dawn, San Francisco holds a memorial to mark the great 1906 earthquake, which destroyed much of the city. But this year, the event took on a different tone, because there are now no earthquake survivors still alive. Los Angeles Times

DROUGHT AND CLIMATE

Supply and demand: Water scarcity will continue to be a problem long after the California drought is over, writes Jay Famiglietti, the senior water scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “Even when the epic drought ends, when all of the state’s surface and groundwater supplies are jointly tallied, California will still be losing water,” he writes. Los Angeles Times

Prepared for the worst: Was buying flood insurance a mistake now that El Niño has turned out to be such a dud? “No matter if it’s fires, floods or earthquakes, it’s our job to make sure that people are prepared,” said Jody Hagemann, a spokeswoman for the Riverside County Fire Department. Orange County Register

L.A. AT LARGE

Prize-winning coverage: he Los Angeles Times won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news for the newspaper’s coverage of last year’s terrorist attack in San Bernardino. “This prize belongs to the entire newsroom,” said Times editor and publisher Davan Maharaj. Columnist Steve Lopez was named a finalist in the commentary category for his stories on Los Angeles’ income inequality. Los Angeles Times

Work of fiction: Viet Thanh Nguyen, a USC professor and a critic-at-large for The Times, won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction Monday. “Unless this is some cosmic virtual reality trick. I’m stunned,” he said. His book, “The Sympathizer,” follows a double-agent for South Vietnam who moves to Southern California. Los Angeles Times

Behind the wheel: City officials in Beverly Hills want driverless vehicles to take over its public transit system. The small city wants to install a network of fiber-optic cable to provide high-speed Internet that would allow for communication between the vehicles and the city’s electric grid. Hollywood Reporter

One with nature: A Topanga Canyon resident was three or four miles into a hike in the mountains when he was passed by someone riding a Segway. Yes, there’s a picture to show that it really happened. LAist

Local landmark: Circus of Books in Silver Lake is closing. In the pre-Internet days, the shop was known for selling adult magazines, videos and other novelties. The West Hollywood location will remain open. Eastsider LA

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Philosophy of governance: Gov. Jerry Brown is back on the cover of Newsweek. “Whether on climate change, government spending or Clinton’s email servers, Brown has a Cassandric quality, a mixture of prescience and alarmism that was disconcerting when he was young but is soothing now that he is old and can say ‘I told you so’ with an unthreatening demeanor.” Newsweek

Employee dissatisfaction: Morale is low within the San Francisco Fire Department, but the chief says she’s not going anywhere. “I feel like she’s almost hiding behind the walls of headquarters, where firefighters rarely go,” said Mariano Elias, president of Los Bomberos, which represents the city’s Latino firefighters. KQED

Tax extension: No, the “post office” at Coachella does not want your tax returns. Apparently some concertgoers tried to mail their taxes from the music festival. “How do they have their taxes here? I don’t know,” said Megan Hampton, quasi-postmaster at the campground. San Jose Mercury News

Is this seat taken? Police will soon start issuing warnings and tickets to BART commuters who take up more than one seat. Officials still have to figure out how to enforce the law without disproportionately targeting homeless individuals who may have a lot of luggage or possessions with them. CityLab

EDUCATION

Coping techniques: One school in Sacramento is helping children manage trauma with counseling and exercising. But after years of success, the program is facing budget cuts. “We serve so many students, and I think we’re a valuable asset to the school and the community. I think it would be a shame for it to go away,” said Bethany Coburn, a social worker at Oak Ridge. KQED

Business school: The company that runs online schools in California is taking advantage of laws governing charter schools and nonprofit organizations, according to a new investigation. “What this company has done may make sense from a business perspective, but to me, it’s a sham,” said Renee Nash, a business and tax attorney and a member of the Eureka Union School District’s Board of Trustees. San Jose Mercury News

CRIME AND COURTS

Non-religious freedoms: Two groups are suing the Antelope Valley Union High School District, saying it failed to inform students about scholarships that are available for the non-religious. The Freedom From Religion Foundation and the Antelope Valley Freethinkers had asked the district to include their scholarships in the lists given out to students, which already include overtly religious scholarships. A deputy superintendent with the district later told the organizers that their essay topics would upset parents. Los Angeles Times

Crash to crash: A 20-year-old woman was booked on suspicion of murder Monday after a North Hills crash left one man dead and eight other people, including four children, hospitalized. Saidy Samayoa was allegedly fleeing a hit-and-run crash when she ran a red light and slammed into a minivan, police said. Los Angeles Times

Court testimony: LAPD Chief Charlie Beck spent two-and-a-half hours on the witness stand Monday in a civil case brought by a police captain who believes he was unfairly denied a promotion after going against the chief’s wishes in a disciplinary case. Beck denies that allegation. Los Angeles Times

Profiling passengers: A UC Berkeley student says he was kicked off a Southwest flight in Los Angeles because he spoke Arabic on the plane. Khairuldeen Makhzoomi said the whole thing made him feel oppressed. Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Where’s my phone? The strange camaraderie of the lost and found line at Coachella. LA Weekly

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

San Diego will be sunny with a high of 80 degrees. Los Angeles will have patchy clouds as temperatures reach 84 degrees. In Riverside, it will be sunny with a high of 91. Sacramento will be partly sunny and 86. It’ll be partly sunny and 69 in San Francisco.

AND FINALLY

Today’s California Memory comes from Hal Wigoda:

“I spent six weeks in L.A. doing some computer training. I was from Chicago. I was driving one of my aunt’s vintage vehicles, a cherry 1968 convertible two-door Cadillac. It was 1982. I was driving down Sunset Boulevard and stopped at a red light. A very nice Rolls-Royce pulled up to the right of me. The driver’s window rolled down, and the driver looked at me and I looked at him. He gave me the high sign and said, ‘Nice ride.’ I said, ‘Wanna trade?’ The light changed, and we went our separate ways. It was O.J. Simpson.”

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Alice Walton or Shelby Grad.